Caste, Class and Community the Role of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha in (Re) Making Hinduism in South Africa 1912-1960
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CASTE, CLASS AND COMMUNITY THE ROLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN HINDU MAHA SABHA IN (RE) MAKING HINDUISM IN SOUTH AFRICA 1912-1960. By Karthigasen Gopalan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2010 Supervised By Professor Goolam Vahed Acknowledgements Various people have assisted in various ways. First I owe a huge thank you to my mother and two brothers who have given their fullest support and encouragement for the past two years. It is unfortunate that my father passed away last year but his encouragement has been greatly appreciated. I owe a thank you to SEPHIS for the opportunity to partake in the Indian Ocean Studies Workshop from 30 November to 3 December 2009, organised by Lakshmi Subramanian of Jamia Millia Islama (National Academic University), New Delhi. The opportunity to meet with academics and other graduate students from various parts of the world whose research interests relate to connectivity across the Indian Ocean was of great value. I would also like to thank the staff members of the History Department of UKZN who host the weekly seminar series, The History and African Studies Seminar. The chance to participate in that seminar was a useful experience and suggestions, comments and questions from Keith Breckenridge, Catherine Burns, Marijke du Toit, Vukile Khumalo, Julie Parle, Kalpana Hiralal and Thembisa Waetjen not to mention their outstanding teaching skills over the years are most appreciated. The staff members of the Gandhi Luthuli Documentation Centre housed in the Westville Campus of the UKZN (formerly University of Durban-Westville) deserve a thank you for their help over the past two years in kindly assisting me with locating documents. Vino Reddy, K Chetty and Siya were of great assistance throughout these two years. Former and current secretaries of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, R. Kalideen and Vijay Misra respectively, took time out of their busy schedules to meet and assist me. I also owe a thank you to secretary of the organisation’s Lorne Street office, Simla for allowing me to make use of their library. I am grateful to the National Research Foundation (NRF) which has assisted by providing financial support for this project. 2 Lastly, to my supervisor Goolam Vahed, whose knowledge on identity formation, religion, culture, race, ethnicity, and the Indian diaspora was of great assistance. He provided good feedback on early drafts and pointed me to several key readings. Needless to say, regardless of the kind assistance from various people all short comings of the project are entirely my own. 3 Abbreviations ABH Aryan Benevolent Home APS Arya Pratinidhi Sabha AYS Arya Yuvuk Sabha CBSIA Colonial Born and Settlers India Association GHMM Gujarati Hindu Mahila Mandal HTI Hindu Tamil Institute HYMS Hindu Young Men’s Society KHSS Kathiawad Hindu Seva Samaj Maha Sabha South African Hindu Maha Sabha NED Natal Education Department NIC Natal Indian Congress NIO Natal Indian Organisation NITS Natal Indian Teachers Society NTVS Natal Tamil Vedic Society SAIC South African Indian Congress SAHMS South African Hindu Maha Sabha SAHSS South African Hindi Sahitya Sammalan SSDS Shri Sanathan Dharma Sabha THSS Transvaal Hindu Seva Samaj TIC Transvaal Indian Congress YMVS Young Men’s Vedic Society 4 Tables of content Introduction 6 Chapter One: 27 Chapter Two: 47 Chapter Three: 72 Chapter Four 100 Chapter Five 127 Conclusion 148 Glossary 154 Appendences 157 Bibliography 163 5 INTRODUCTION The South African Hindu Maha Sabha (henceforth Maha Sabha, which translates into “Great Society”) was formed in 1912 at the inaugural national conference of South African Hindus that was held in Durban under the presidency of Swami Shankaranand, a visiting Vedic missionary from Punjab who had been brought to South Africa by local Hindus in 1908 to help propagate Hinduism among the masses. Concerned with the “upliftment of Hinduism” in South Africa, the five central issues addressed at this conference were: the formation of a national body for Hindus; promotion of Hindu education; popularisation of Hindu festivals; establishment of more Hindu cultural and religious institutions; and increasing the participation of women in social and religious activities.1 The proceedings of this conference and outcomes will be discussed in greater details in subsequent chapters. For now it suffices to say that the most important outcome was the establishment of the Maha Sabha, which, according to one study, was founded “with the primary object of promoting the religious, educational, social and economic welfare and advancement of the Hindu community.”2 This study examines the formation, organisation, and activities of the Maha Sabha from its inception in 1912 until 1960, which is an arbitrary year but a convenient point to end this study as Indians celebrated the centenary of their arrival in South Africa. To mark the occasion, the Maha Sabha published a book that dealt with various aspects of the Hindu presence in this country. This study will evaluate their assessment of the state of Hinduism to that point. Importantly too, shortly thereafter the National Party accepted people of Indian origin as South African citizens. The conversion of the de facto status of most Indians into legal citizenship resulted in a whole host of political and other changes which also impacted on the workings of the Maha Sabha. Going beyond 1960 would have resulted in project that would have been too wide for an MA and the period after 1960 will be considered for a future study. While the Maha Sabha aimed to function as a national body, this study is largely confined to Natal, which was home both to the organisation and to around 90 percent of South Africa’s Hindus. A central aim of this study is to explore notions of “Hinduness” and the changing notions of what it meant to be Hindu in South Africa, especially in relation to 1 Nagindas P. Desai. “A History of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha” in R. S. Nowbath, S.Chotai and B.D. Lalla (eds). The Hindu Heritage in South Africa (Durban: The South African Hindu Maha Sabha, 1960), 91. 2 Desai. “A History”, 92. 6 the various identities that a South African “Hindu” may embrace. Identity is a complex phenomenon, which is not only multifaceted but fluid, being constantly negotiated in the present in accordance with changing social contexts. The early indentured labourers lacked a “common” Hindu identity as they arrived from various parts of India, bringing with them a myriad of traditions, languages, castes, and beliefs. International Hindu missionaries who arrived from the turn of the twentieth century worked with local Hindu leaders in an attempt to provide a common ground around which the heterogeneous groups of Hindus could coalesce. In addition to these sectional differences among Hindus, there was also an attempt to promote an “Indian” identity by various political leaders, whether Hindu, Parsi, Christian, or Muslim. Stuart Hall spoke of identity as a “movable feast” when he explained why the factors that give individuals firm locations as social individuals are fluid and constantly negotiated in the present.3 Being Hindu was one, and a very important one at that, identity embraced by Indian migrants during the period of this study. Fiona Bowie suggests that identity can be seen as providing a sense of stability in the complexity of social factors that make up an individual or group, as well as something that the individual or group constantly (re)creates as they associate with various social factors.4 An important question under investigation is why successive leaders of the Maha Sabha saw it as vital to promote a broad “Hindu identity”, one that encompassed various strands of Hinduism, and the debates that this generated with those Hindus who were concerned at the exclusion of Muslims and Christians, as well as those who did not want to conform to a particular kind of Hinduism promoted by the Maha Sabha. These questions were not resolved during the period of this study and remain unresolved; in fact, in post Cold War and post-apartheid South African society, religious, linguistic and cultural identities seem to be hardening. Boundary markers are employed for various purposes. For Hall, during times of crises people attempt to hold on to certain characteristics that make them different from others with whom they come into contact.5 Samuel Huntington 6 has even suggested that there is a “clash of civilisations” in the contemporary period. 3 Stuart Hall. “Introduction: Identity in Question” in S. Hall (ed). Modernity and Its Futures (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992), 3. 4 Fiona Bowie. The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction Second Edition (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), 63. 5 Hall. “Introduction”, 1-3. 6 While Huntington’s thesis that cultural and religious identities would become the new cause of global conflict in the post Cold War era is highly contentious and has attracted criticism from many, fundamental to his argument and those who supported it is the realization that cultural and religious identities are hardening and have become more “rigid” during this period. See Malcolm Waters. Globalisation (London: Routledge, 1995), 7 This study contributes to the study of Hinduism and the ways in which it is negotiated in changing historical settings by focusing on the national body of Hindus in the evolving South African state during the first half of the twentieth-century. Examining the origins, motives, successes and failures of the Maha Sabha, an organisation that attempted to function as the umbrella body of all Hindus in South Africa, provides an important entry point into the multiple identities within a group termed officially as “Indian” or “Asian” and seen by others as homogenous. In reality a multiplicity of identities makes up what one might call Indian.